I'll have my people call your people . . .

Moira has started to play pretend a little and spends a lot of time mimicking everything Nick and I do. It's pretty amusing to hear her babble at Kess in an stern tone when I'm getting after her for not listening. Nick's doing what he can to encourage Moira that dogs are no good, but he's fighting a losing battle. Moira is infatuated with animals and loves nothing more than to go to frisbee with me on wed night, as there are several dogs that like kids and she gets to hug and kiss them to her hearts content. Kess still pretty much wants nothing to do with her, and aside from the occasional snuffle and lick avoids her like the plague.

Mmmmm. . . . Nectarines

A day at grandma and grandpas

We managed to squeeze in a visit to Keron and Ross's during our weekend in Bellingham. As an added bonus Kip and Nonnie were in town. It was great to spend a little time with everyone and it was especially nice for Moira. As usual she turned on the charm . . .

Dave and Nicole tie the knot

We were up in Bellingham over the weekend to attend Dave and Nicoles wedding. The ceremony and reception were held in a beautiful location right off of the Nooksack river. Their vows were lovely and there was hardly a dry eye in the place. It was really wonderful to be a part of such an important day in our two friends lives. You can find more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/tombi.ericson/5aug07wedding

Mmmmm. . . Berries

Strawberries have proven to be one of Moira's favorite foods. I actually have to avoid them in the grocery store because she starts screeching if she sees them and does not relent until I pitch some in the cart and give her a few to work on as we finish shopping. I guess there's worse things she could throw a tantrum about!

Cuteness Update

We had an action packed week while dada was away. Here's som silliness from just before he left. Everyday was a new adventure. Most of our fun was geared towards staying cool. We played in the sand, went swimming, played in the sprinklers, went to Grandpa Deans birthday, and went to sheep herding. I'm glad Nick's back so that everyone will quit worrying about me sitting at home alone. I'm worn out and ready for a couple of days of nothing.

Does This Diaper Make My Butt Look BIG?

Our deck has turned out to be the best spot to spend the long hot days. Thanks to the greenbelt behind us there's only sun on the deck from about 12-2. While I see this as a huge disadvantage most of the time its been a blessing the last few days. Moira spends most of her time pulling all of the flowers off the plants and sticking them in her little bucket, which she hauls around for a good portion of the day. She also has a little wheelbarrow that she likes to load up with toys and cart around. We filled up Moira's little pool and she's pretty sure it's only there to throw things in to. She's less enthusiastic about actually getting in it, and would much rather that I retieve her toys for her when they've drifted to the center.


In addition to hucking everything into the pool that's not nailed down Moira has figured out how to climb on to the couch, recliner, and coffee table. As a result we've had to raise our child proofing efforts another two feet. Pretty soon we'll be out of spots to put things she shouldn't get in to.

Four Generations of Fiesty Women

My Grandmother (and Moira's Great Grandmother) Anne has been in town for the last couple of weeks. She's headed back to South Africa today and had just enough time to stop for one last visit and to get a photo of four generations of our family! Luckily we had several cameras available and managed to figure out the time delay feature on one and between Judy's lens and tripod and my camera we managed a functional set-up.

It was great to get to spend time with my grandmother, and the only thing that could have made it better was if Nicola (my sister) could have been here as well. Well I take that back, it looks like I could use a hair cut. Nicola has actually just returned from a huge trip including several countries in Africa and Europe, and I can't wait to hear about all of her travels. It's always great to spend time with you're family and have the chance to see a little of yourself in someone else.

babies, cats, horses, and knights

Kess and I heaed out sat. morning to help with a flyball demonstration at a fundraiser for a local state park. The demo went great and all of Kess's frisbee friends were there doing a demonstration as well. For me the highlight was the Seattle Knights presentation. Well I guess it was one of the seattle knight. Two of the three were rather lack luster, but this fellow had a spirited horse and put on quite a show. Apparently there's some sort of annual war horse games, which sounds pretty darn cool to me.

And we really can't do a new blog post without including a cute baby picture . . .

Freemont Solstice Parade

Nick, Moira and I met up with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Paul to watch the parade today. Judy and Paul headed out early and scored us curb side seats so we had a great view of all of the costumes. Moira had a great time and was eager to join in the fun. We had to keep one hand on her to keep her out of the street. It will be fun to make some costumes and go in the parade when she's a little older. Here's a link to all the shots: http://picasaweb.google.com/tombi.ericson/SolsticeParade

Hats and Sunshine

Moira generally tosses hats aside, but I convinced her to keep this one on long enough to get a few cute pics.

Moira and Juju's Big Day

My mom came over to play with Moira so Kess and I could do some sheep herding today. It looks like they had lots of fun . . .

Moira takes a seat

Nick and Moira got a lot of prep work done on her new chair. Moira even helped pick out what color to paint it. Nick managed to get it sanded and primed over the weekend, so if we're lucky enough to get more sun it should be painted soon. It's right next to daddy's chair and she likes to sit and read her books. It's nice that she's finally able to sit still for a minute, even if it's a fleeting moment.

We just wont tell her it's upside down.

Fun in the sun and my famous picture

A couple of years ago I helped out my good friend Keeley with her project at People for Puget Sound. She snapped a picture of me that has been used again and again on various environmental websites and posters. Here's the latest . . . http://mudup.org/sound-stories/story-content/encouraging-and-teaching-people-to-be-stewards-of-the-sound/

Of course now that they have my picture and such an eloquent quote from me I feel like I've been a slacker. . . time to get out and volunteer!

The swings are still the big hit at the park

Vacation . . . maybe next year

We headed up to Bellingham last wed. with daydreams of lounging in the sun while Moira toddled around in the grass getting into trouble. Unfortunately Moira no longer likes to sleep anywhere but her own bed. The first night we were treated to an hour long high volume rant about just how much she wanted to sleep in her own bed. The next day I was sick, but luckily Moira was much easier to put to bed. Night three Moira was sick and after several hours of crying we packed up and headed for Seattle in the wee hours. So while we didn't get to take Moira to the parade we did get to catch up with all of her grandparents. Mel was in the hospital briefly and is now home and doing well. Ross is the new owner of a dumptruck, Keron's garden is ever evolving and growing. Will won big at the tx holdem' poker tournament. We did manage to relax a little, but it was good to get home and get some sleep. Of course Moira never passes up a chance to smile for the paparazzi. . .

Barefoot in the grass at Mel and Heidi's

Silly smiles at Keron and Ross's

Lazy Sunday

Nick and Moira catch a snooze in the recliner. There's nothing like a nap on a rainy sunday afternoon.

First Place!!

Kess and I did much better than expected at the disc dog competition. Luckily the wind seemed to magically die down when it was my turn to throw the frisbee allowing me to keep it on the course. Another bonus is that I found out you get two rounds after I got there. Our first round was pretty horrid with only two catches in the time allowed but in our second round we got 4 catches and I managed to through them further so they were worth more points. I had a great time taking pictures and of course I'm going to share them . . .

Fun day in the sun

Well I've decided to give herding lessons a real serious try before I surrender. It's been a real struggle to find a trainer that I feel works well with the style of dog that Kess is but that is also able to explain things well to me. Being the type of person I am I seem to be drawn to a challenge (just look at my college experience). I'm doggedly determined to figure out the nuances of sheepdog handling. I think that actually being able to do some real work with your dog is the ultimate translation of the bond between dog and owner. Being able to work with a dog towards a common goal and then suceed is a great feeling. So for everyone who gave me money for agility lessons with Kess for my birthday thanks so much, but I'm going to use it for herding lessons. I want to commit to going once a week for three months and hopefully I'll see some real progress and if not I'll know that I gave it my best effort and we can move on. I just feel that Kess has a lot of natural talent, and that my understanding of animal behavior will increase ten-fold for the experience. I'm always amazed at how the herding instructors can pick up on the smallest hint like the flick of the dogs tail or the set of its ears to tell how it's going to behave. Well that's enough rambling on . . . here's the photos of the day. Still no pictures of Kess I'm going to have to give Nancy a lesson on my camera.

Rekker and Len

Bea and Len

Turtles

Well after looking around a little on the web I discovered that there is a little nature trail to a lake with an observation dock very close to my house. So Moira and I headed out to take a look. It was a little after 1:00 so the birds were all taking a rest in the shade, but some turtles were taking advantage of the warm sunshine .

Painted Turtle Chrysemys picta

These guys are pretty unimpressive from the top, but their undersides have bright red and yellow patterns which give them their name.

Red eared slider Trachemys scripta elegans (invasive species)

Mother's Day

Well Nick threw me a Birthday/Mother's Day celebration on sat. and sun. Everyone from Bellingham came down for a visit and Gabe and Cynthia headed up from Olympia. We ate lots of food and got to catch up on everyone's lives. Moira had a great time charming everyone and even gave out some hugs and cuddles.

Miss Moiras favorite thing right now is books. She just loves all of her books and wants you to read them over, and over, and over . . . . you can't really say no when a kid actually wants to read a book so even though she has about 15 I try to pick up a few more every month as we quickly get real tired of her favorites. Her absolute favorite book is Moo, Bah, LaLaLa and I can now recite the whole thing from start to finish. I've had to resort to hiding it for days at a time to get a reprieve.

Sun I went out with Addie and Cary to the good old Value Village and scored a recliner. Nick took one sit in it and declared it dad's chair. He spent the remainder of sun lounging in his new throne.

Dogs, Dogs, and more Dogs

Kekoa

Aaron and Leo

Eva and Iniki

Kess

I've started meeting with a group of disc dog enthusiasts on wed. evenings. It's a great crowd and the dogs all have tons of fun. Kess has been very stubborn about bringing the Frisbee back the last 5 feet or so, which is starting to wear down my patience, but after two weeks she's a little better. I know Kevin will feel my frustration as he spent many long hours in the back yard trying to get Kess to bring him the ball. She'll have to mention him in her acceptance speech for her first major flyball award. Well as you might imagine taking pictures of running dogs catching frisbees is quite difficult. In general the dog would be in focus, but they wouldn't catch the frisbee or the dog would catch the frisbee but the lovely fence behind them would be in focus. As the light began to fade things got even more difficult. Even so I think I managed to get a few nice shots of all the action. Next time I hope to take the whole scene into better account and think a little more about where I place myself to get better shots.